What is Rolfing
Rolfing Structural Integration (Rolfing SI) is a system of bodywork which utilizes connective tissue (fascial) manipulation and movement education to integrate the human structure resulting in better balance, increased flexibility, improved physical abilities, and greater health. It is the product of fifty years of practice and study by Dr. Ida P. Rolf.
Rolfing’s basic premise is that by changing the structure of the body, the functioning of the entire human being is enhanced. By gently rebalancing, realigning, and reshaping the body, unresolved chronic pain can be relieved or eliminated, posture is improved, flexibility is increased and there is an overall sense of well being.
Your body can be impaired through both physical and emotional injury. When this happens the rest of your body must compensate to maintain balance. The job of a rolfer is to disengage restrictions between fascial layers, allow the muscles to return to a more balanced relationship, and help your body to release compensations. This is accomplished by systematically organizing the body’s connective tissue network. This connective tissue network of ligaments, tendons and coverings of the bones, muscles, and organs is called the fascia system. Fascia is the “organ of structure” in your body. It supports the skeleton and soft tissues, stabilizes the position of the bones, determines how you move, and gives the body its shape.
Often considered a deep-tissue approach, Rolfing SI actually works with all the layers of the body to ease strain patterns in the entire system. Research has demonstrated that Rolfing creates more efficient muscle use, allows the body to conserve energy, and creates more economical and refined patterns of movement. Rolfing has also been shown to significantly reduce chronic stress, reduce spinal curvature in subjects with lordosis (sway back), and enhance neurological functioning.
Rolfing SI is commonly done in a series of bodywork sessions, called the Ten-Series. This work is focussed on creating long lasting and profound change. The effects are seen in improved posture and felt in overall well being.
About Dr. Ida Rolf
In 1920, Ida Pauline Rolf received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. Dr. Rolf’s interest in alternative healing lead her to explore homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic and yoga. The notion that proper alignment, physiologic function and anatomical structure are related is the basis of many of these healing methods.
Dr. Rolf began developing her system to help the chronically disabled who had been unable to find help elsewhere. Her main goal was of organizing the human bodily structure in relation to gravity. This method was originally called Postural Release and later Structural Integration, also commonly known as Rolfing.
Rolfing Structural Integration is a holistic therapy that aims to reorganize the tissue and structure of the body over a course of ten sessions. Dr. Rolf speaks of her ten series model:
“In Structural Integration, we expect to give a cycle of 10 sessions. There is a reason for this. We are not dealing with local problems. We are not dealing with the kind of thing that you can say, ‘Well, I fixed that, that’s all.’ We are dealing with an intent to make a body more secure, more adequate within the field of gravity. This requires that muscles be balanced, and need to be balanced around a vertical line. And when I talk about balancing muscles, I’m talking about balancing the right side against the left side. About balancing the front of the body against the back of the body and, finally, about balancing the innermost muscles against the outermost, the inside against the outside, this is the most important of these balances, and we start from the outside working in, and it takes ten hours before we can get to the place where we can really balance the outside against the inside.”
The 10 Series Model
The Sleeve: Sessions 1-3
Prepares the body for the Rolfing series. Enhances the quality of breath through work on the shoulders, ribcage, and respiratory diaphragm. Opening is also started in the hips and upper legs.
Creates a new foundation for the body by addressing the feet, lower legs, and knees.
Prepares the body for the Rolfing series. Enhances the quality of breath through work on the shoulders, ribcage, and respiratory diaphragm. Opening is also started in the hips and upper legs.
The Core: Sessions 4-7
Introduces a mid-line by working the inside arch of the foot and up the inner line of the leg, extending up to the bottom of the pelvis.
Balances surface and deep abdominal and lower torso muscles including the psoas muscles and low back.
Addresses the support and movement from the legs, pelvis and lower back via the sacrum.
Addresses the head to body relationship with work on the shoulders, neck, jaw, and head.
Whole Body Integration: Sessions 8-10
These sessions are unique to each client dependent on 10-Series goals for that individual. One session will be on the upper body while the other will be done on the lower body.
Solidifies a sense of order for the body and brings the series to a close by balancing the horizontals and the structural relationships as a whole.